


Where were you all this time

by Fjodor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Gen, going from the beginning to the end, second try to get this right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:36:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fjodor/pseuds/Fjodor
Summary: Hermoine grows up realising that she might want more out of life than just knowledge, and being the brightest witch of her age. She might just want to fall in love, like she did all that time ago in France, with a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, wouldn't that be nice?





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a rewritten idea of mine, The last time I tried to write this it got stuck in the summer of 2016. Now almost 2 years later I am revisiting this. Because I want to do the idea that I had all that time ago justice.

The morning light streamed into the room, giving the first hint that the night had ones again been driven away. The light trailed over the countryside waking the birds, letting them chirp and chatter among themselves. A little over the hills a small girl wakes, hearing the birds and seeing the light enter her room.

Waking up, Hermione Granger looked up to her sealing, sucking in the warmth the first light had provided. It was for her the beginning of the most exiting summer. She was going on the first big vacation her family had planned since living memory. Before she had been born her parents used to close the dentistry, packed up and go travel the world for a few weeks relaxing and letting go for a bit. Now though with her being there her parents traded big travel to smaller trips, taking her to the seaside, visiting her grandparents.

But when Hermione graduated from her primary education, her parents though that it would be time that after eleven long years, they would take her on the big vacations of old. A month long vacations that would be just them far from home. After a long deliberations, asking themselves where Hermione would like to go, asking herself, they landed on France, It was where her parents took their first trip so it would be like a good start for Hermione to see the world through a different culture.

So, after planning the vacation it was just a matter of Hermione finishing her Primary Education. Which she did with flying colours, marking new records in her class and year. Her headmaster had given her a certificate telling her that she was an excellent student, an example to the student body. Hermione had always looked up to her and saw her as an example for how she would like to grow up.

When she took the certificate, her headmaster told her something that would leave a mark on her. Being kind will carry you farther than anything else. She took that advice and vowed to live by those words.

Waking up this morning Hermione, she just smiled. Knowing that this summer would be the best one in her life. Finishing school, taking a break from studying for her exams and just enjoying her time in the break before the new school would be arriving in two months.

Looking over to her clock she saw that it was just before half six in the morning, too early for her to rise and face the wold yet. She turned on her side with a smile looking forward to the summer, looking forward to seeing the world.


	2. The Start of Summer

Waking up, I looked up to check the clock again, seeing that it had already gone quarter to eleven. She got up relieved that the time of getting up early for school was, for a few months, history. she could sleep in for a little bit.

Staying up later was now also on the table, she’d realised. Downstairs there was a radio playing. Her parents must have already gotten up she realised.

     Getting out of bed, she threw on a comfortable set of clothes for lounging around the house. Leaving her room she was curious to see if she’d had been able to catch her dad before he left for the practice her parents ran together.

Coming downstairs she saw that her mom was reading the paper, and her dad had left for the day. Walking past her mom, she retrieved some cereal and milk to have a late breakfast. Sitting down at the dinner table, she noticed a big yellow envelope sitting in front of her.

Looking at her mother, “Mom, is this letter for you?”

     “No, Honey it is addressed to you.” She said flipping the paper down for a moment.

     “Alright, I’ll look at it after breakfast,” Hermione said, putting the cereal in the bowl, not wanting to spill milk on it by accident. “Do we know where it is from?” she asked.

     “I don’t know,” she said, “the banner over the coat of arms says ‘Hogwarts’, never head of it.”

     While her mom went back to reading the paper, I looked back to the letter and saw the seal with the coat of arms extruding form the wax. Letting it sit there for the moment, she started with her late breakfast.

#

After cleaning up, she returned to the table taking the letter. Settling into sofa she looked at the back of the letter. It was addressed to her but, it was a little more specific than needed. It read:

Ms H. Granger  
second bedroom on the first floor  
16 cox’s lane. Stoke Hallow  
Henley-on-Thames

Turning it over again, she looked if there was a return address present. There was none.

“Are you going to open it? Or are you just going to study the outside hoping it will tell you what is inside.” Her mom told her. Looking over she glanced at her.

“I know, mom.” she replied prying off the wax seal and inspecting the coat of arms in more detail. It was divided in four quadrants, there were a few small animals represented on the shield. There was an eagle, a snake, a badger and a lion, underlined by a motto, ‘Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus’.

“Hey, mom?” she asked.

“Yes Honey.”

“Do we have a Latin to English dictionary?”

“...why?”

“The seal has a Latin saying on it, wondering what it said.” She said looking at her mom who was thinking if there was a, by chance, a Latin to English dictionary in their home library.

“I think that we don’t have one here... But I can ask if your father can look in the office if we keep one there. I’m sure we used to have one.” She answered, putting down the paper walking over to the phone next to the fridge.

Hearing the phone ring she put the wax seal aside. Opening up the envelope it contained a number of letters. The first one was addressed to her and the second one was for her parents.

Her letter said:

‘ **HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster** : Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Granger,

     We are pleased to inform you that you are a witch with magical abilities able enough to join the ranks of the magical community. Learning from our records we see that no one in your family has magical abilities, so we are sending a professor to explain this to you in closer detail.

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a letter for your parents and a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Any further questions will be answered by one of our professors later today.

Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall  
**Deputy Headmistress’**

     “So this is a strange letter,” she said out loud.

     “how is it strange sweetie?” her mom asked, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder waiting for her father to pick up or for the answering machines to turn on.

     “It’s talking nonsense... I can heads nor tails of what’s in the letter.” she said, reading over the letter again. ‘Any further questions will be answered by one of our professors later today,’ there was an explanation promised in that sentence there. It might shed some light on what all this was supposed to mean.

     “Hey, honey do we have a Latin English dictionary at the office?” she could hear her mom talking to her dad for moment, focusing again on the letter. Looking closer, the green ink seemed to be moving. Must be a trick of the light she thought.

#

When her mom and Hermione were waiting for her dad to come home from the dentistry, looked at the letter for the parents that was placed behind her own letter. It said that a professor would explain the strange things in the letter, and that in the meantime they should hold off of entering her into a high school, if that hadn’t been done already.

     Reading over both letters again, mom pronounced that, while strange, there was no reason to start panicking. It said that there would be an explanation for all the madness, and as a doctor her mother looked at it with a clinical point of view. Either it was explainable or it wasn’t, they just had to wait to find out which it was. She eventually shrugged her shoulders, going upstairs to collect some of the toiletries they would be needing on their vacation.

     she spend the rest of the day under a mixture of excitement and curiosity. Exited because the letter had told her that she was a witch, and that apparently she had magical powers? And curious for what this “professor” had to say for themselves, explaining what the letter really meant.

     It wasn’t long before dinner that her dad could be heard pulling into the driveway of her house.

     “I’m home,” he pronounced walking into the kitchen from the front door. “Hello, sweetie have you seen your mother?” he asked looking what was cooking on the furnace, mom had made some soup and had a cake in the oven, celebrating the start of the vacation for the whole family.

     “I think she went upstairs looking for some of the nice dinner plates, saying something about ‘if we have them I’m using them’” she told him, “you have that dictionary with you?” she then asked when he turned around after stirring the soup a few times.

     “I do,” he pulled it out of his bag, “why do you need it?” he asked giving it to me.

     “I got a letter that has a wax seal on it with a Latin saying on it.” she told him already flipping through the book looking for the first word.

     “Alright then,” he said putting away his bag and some knick-knack that usually where in the office.

     Having already tuned out what he was doing she looked in the dictionary under the letter D.

  * ...
  * dotor – passive form of doto
  * drachma – Greek silver coin
  * drachumissans – present particle of drachummisso
  * drachumisso – to work for a drachma a day
  * draco – dragon, snake, old grapevine



so the first word in the saying was probably dragon, she thought flipping the pages to find Dormiens. It translated to the present form of sleep, sleeping she then deduced.

     “Hermione, could you put away the book?” her mom said “dinner is almost ready, could you fetch the glasses from the cabinet?”

     she put away the book, putting the seal and the piece of paper where she had been making notes, between the pages before getting up to help.

#

With the help of my dad, we quickly translated the last two word of the motto, according to my dad it said; ‘Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon’.

     “Strange motto to put on a coat of arms.” He muttered.

     “What do you think it means?” Hermione asked him.

     “Well, it seems to be indicated that things that aren’t widely understood they should be left alone.” He uttered thinking on his feet for an analogy, “Like don’t throw a match in an abandoned mineshaft, it might contain explosive gasses that will endanger you.” He said, clearly the first one that sprung to his mind.

     “It could also mean that poking a sleeping dragon is a bad idea” her mom said putting the cake on the table.

     “Or it could mean that.” Dad said, thinking about it before letting it go. “You said that it was on the seal of a letter?” he then asked me.

     “Yes, it was from some sort of school I think,” she said handing over the letter, his eyes darting over the paper in a rapid fashion.

     “Well, it does say here that all will be explained.” He said putting the letter down before slicing off a piece of the cake.

     “Let’s hope there is a reasonable explanation for all of this.” Her mom said before taking her piece offering to slice off one for her too.

     ‘Knock-Knock’

     “Are you expecting anyone Henry?” my mother asked, seeing my dad shake his head, she left the table to open the front door. From my seat she turned around and could see it opening up to an elderly lady with a friendly face.

     “Good evening, my name is Minerva McGonagall. Could I come in?” the person at the door asked.


	3. An explanation

“Good evening, my name is Minerva McGonagall. Could I come in?” the person at the door asked.

     “Well...” Her mom said surprised the woman that send the letter is now actually standing on her doorstep.

     “It is quite cold out here,” the woman said while a breeze blew past her into the house, there seemed to be some ice flowers forming on the glasses on the table.

     “Of course, please come in.” Her mom said feeling the freezing wind that had started to blow into the house. “Could I take your coat?” She asked of the woman, not letting the strangeness of the circumstances get in front of her manners.

     “If you would be so kind,” the older woman said, letting her overcoat slip from her shoulders into my moms hands. It was a tweed duffle coat in the same shade of green the ink was on the letter.

     The women walked further into the house, entering the dining room, she greeted my father. Pleasantries where exchanged, but she noticed that even though they where talking, noting was really being said.

     “Excuse me,” Hermione said looking up to the strange woman that had just walked into the house. Who despite never meeting my parents, to my knowledge, was talking to them as if they were old friends.

     “Oh, pardon me,” she said, “we haven’t been formally introduced, I’m Minerva McGonagall, Deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. Where, if all goes well tonight, you will spend the next few year learning the mysteries and wonders of Magic and conjuration.”

     “... what do you mean?” Hermione asked, because most of what just was said made little to no sense to her.

     “I might be taking this a little quick,” Minerva said,” Could I?” she then asked waving her hand over to one of the sofa’s.

     “help yourself.” she said, sitting down In the other sofa. Looking over to where my parents where, I could see that they where frozen in place, like time stopped ticking along for them. A bit panicked I looked over to the older woman, cocking my eyebrow up.

     “Don’t worry about them, I’ve just paused them. In a few moments a few collages of mine will unfreeze them and explain the situation to them. I’m here to answer any of your questions.” She said.”

     The rest of the evening consisted of Hermione asking a myriad of questions, about the school, the magical world, the few events in the past couple of years that at the time didn’t see to make sense, which were explained to her as just outburst of magic that had been building up inside of her. She even preformed some magical spells to show her that what she was telling was true.

     She also learned that while the magical population of the British Isles lived in secrecy for the protection of the wider public. Witches and Wizards had existed for a long time, the most well know example of Wizards was Merlin. He was one of the last great wizards that was well known throughout Britain. After his passing somewhere in the late 10th, early 11th century they decided that living in secrecy was safer for them, the country at the time started to take notice and were attacking the weaker parts of the magic population.

     Back then the four founders of Hogwarts decided that the children needed to be taught in a safe environment, they created the school and set up an early education system. Students where send up to the safe space where their magic couldn’t be noticed by muggles, and that when they grow up, they then would be safer in their life.

     This was where Minerva was inviting her to join, as a student of the magical as a witch. Hermione kept asking questions for the rest of the night, inquiring about the governmental system of the magical world, a list of mythical creatures that she wondered really existed and how spells where cast.

#

“Well Ms. Granger I think that that I answered all your questions without just teaching you already. I hope that you will join us September 1st.” Minerva said, insisting that professor McGonagall was too formal for this conversation, and she wasn’t a student of hers jet, so they could drop that for the moment.

     “I do have one more question,” Hermione said shyly, thinking about what had happened to her parent in the meantime, they’d been talking for the better part of the evening. “Where did my parents go?” she asked her.

     “They have been collected by the department of Muggle Informing  of and Preparation for the Magical and Mystical.” She said with a slight smile, “I know, I know we’ve been told already that our Ministries naming scheme is quite literal.”

     “So, the Ministry is filling my parents in on the specifics of the magical world.” Hermione asked.

     “that’s the plan, luckily with magic it is easy to just explain what is happening, and more or less plug in extra memories of a long presentation which tells them everything.”

     “So, your giving them new memories to help them understand?” she inquired, curious how that all worked.

     “More or less, what is know of the process is quite secretive, and because they can’t have the information permanently there is a lot of magic involved.” Minerva stated, giving a supportive smile.

     “So...” I started, “at some point in the future, these memories will be taken out again?”

     “That’s correct.”

     “So that the magical community can live safely?”

     “ten point to you Ms. Granger,” The older witch smiled, “between the ages of eleven till twenty, your parents will be aware of magic and your involvement with it. But at some point later on, you will become a part of our community, and they will need to be protected. I don’t know your parents very well Ms. Granger”

     “Hermione is fine,” she said.

     “Very well, Hermione, as I said. I don’t know your parents, they might be completely trustworthy people, but the laws states that muggles with direct relations with magical beings may know of the magical world for the period of nine years starting at the eleventh year of the being in question.” She told Her.

     “So when I turn twenty, my parents will forget about the next nine years?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

     McGonagall looked up in shock, “No no no, when you get to that there is the bureaucracy of the ministry and you can get that length of time extended.” She explained, taking a hold of my hand calming Hermione down.

     “alright, a problem for later then.”

     “Indeed a problem for later.” She said.

#

“So, you’re a witch?” her dad asked Minerva.

     “I am.” She answered.

     “And everything they told us is true?” Her mom then asked.

     “I’m afraid so,” McGonagall told them.

     “just out of curiosity, could we say no?” her dad asked.

     “Saying no to the magical world?” Minerva said, “I’m afraid not, if you could say no, we would try to wipe your minds and also hers. But the magic that is inside of her will find a way to break through. I would advise against that happening.” She said holding a small smile playing on her lips.

     “Alright then,” my dad let out, a lot of stress falling from his shoulders when they descent, “could we give you a piece of cake for the road?” he then asks her.

     “That would be lovely.” She answers getting up from her seat, “it was truly a treasure to have spend the time with you all here today.” She tells us, “look out for an owl somewhere around the beginning of august, it will carry the list of books needed, and instructions on how to get them.”

     “Will do,” Her mom told her fetching the older witches coat.

     “And Hermione if you have any more questions, just sent them to this address alright?” she then told Hermione. Minerva then accepted the cake and allowed her parents to walk her out.

     “Have a good evening!” her parents told her before closing the door again.

     I’m a witch, Hermione thought, that changes things.

     “Well,” my dad said walking back into the room, “that does solve a small problem early on, now we don’t have to find a school for you over the summer.”


End file.
